Runbook Partners

Before you cancel GitHub.

Deleting a GitHub organization is permanent, and its migration archive is deleted after seven days. What a full export carries and leaves out, and what GitHub Actions deletes after 90 days by default.

Every claim below restates GitHub’s own documentation (9 pages), with the passage it rests on. Re-checked against the live pages on October 29, 2026.

What happens to the data when you cancel GitHub

  1. Deleting a GitHub organization permanently removes its repositories, wikis, issues, pull requests and pages, there is no restore window, and GitHub cannot restore the content, so copy everything first.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    Deleting your organization account permanently removes all repositories, forks of private repositories, wikis, issues, pull requests, and project or organization pages. This action is irreversible. ... After you delete an organization, GitHub cannot restore your content. Therefore, before you delete your organization, make sure you have a copy of all repositories, wikis, issues, and projects from the account.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

  2. To stop paying without deleting the organization and its content, GitHub points to downgrading the organization to GitHub Free instead.

    Plans: paid organization plans

    GitHub’s words
    If you want to cancel your paid subscription, you can downgrade your organization to GitHub Free instead of deleting the organization and its content.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

  3. After a downgrade, the organization loses access to any functionality that is not included in the new plan.

    Plans: paid organization plans

    GitHub’s words
    After an organization's plan is downgraded, the organization will lose access to any functionality that is not included in the new plan.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

  4. A single repository deleted on its own can be restored within 90 days, unless it belongs to a fork network that still has other repositories in it.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    A deleted repository can be restored within 90 days, unless the repository was part of a fork network that is not currently empty.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

Who can export what, by plan

  1. Cloning a repository downloads a full copy of the repository data GitHub holds at that moment, including every version of every file and folder.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    Cloning a repository pulls down a full copy of all the repository data that GitHub.com has at that point in time, including all versions of every file and folder for the project.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

  2. GitHub's backup guide uses a mirror clone to back up a repository with its full revision history, and wikis can be backed up by cloning them too, since they are Git repositories.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    You can take a backup of a Git repository, including the revision history, by performing a mirror clone with the Git CLI. ... Wikis in GitHub are stored as Git repositories. This means that you can back up a wiki by cloning it.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

  3. Only organization owners can use the organization migrations API, which exports one or more repositories into a migration archive.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    These endpoints are only available to authenticated organization owners. ... You can use these endpoints to export one or more repositories so you can move them to a GitHub Enterprise Server instance.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

  4. When ghe-migrator moves a GitHub.com organization's repositories to a GitHub Enterprise Server instance, most repository data migrates, including the organization and the users, teams, issues, pull requests and pull request reviews tied to the repository, but Git LFS assets and file-level pull request review comments do not.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    Most data associated with a repository can be migrated. For example, a repository within an organization will migrate the repository and the organization, as well as any users, teams, issues, and pull requests associated with the repository. ... Any items not shown in the list of migrated data cannot be migrated, including Git LFS assets. ... Pull request reviews and associated data are migrated. ... File-level comments are not migrated.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

  5. Migration archives leave out some records, such as Git LFS objects, discussions and packages, and GitHub has no supported way to restore an archive back onto GitHub, so they work only as an archive copy.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    Migration archives do not include all data related to a repository. For example, Git Large File Storage objects, discussions, or packages are not included. ... There is no supported, documented way to restore migration archives on GitHub, so these backups are only suitable for archiving purposes.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

What can stop or limit an export

  1. GitHub automatically deletes an organization migration archive after seven days.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    Deletes a previous migration archive. Migration archives are automatically deleted after seven days.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

  2. A migration archive must be smaller than 20 GB, and leaving out file attachments keeps it smaller.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    You can exclude file attachments by passing exclude_attachments: true to the endpoint. File attachments can be large and may needlessly bloat your final migration archive. The final archive size must be less than 20 GB.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

  3. Exporting needs owner permissions on the organization's repositories and an access token with the repo and admin:org scopes, and the Migrations API is in a preview period whose endpoints and parameters may change.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    Ensure that you have owner permissions on the source organization's repositories. ... Generate an access token with the repo and admin:org scopes on GitHub.com. ... The Migrations API is currently in a preview period, which means that the endpoints and parameters may change in the future.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

What the export looks like

  1. GitHub's download example saves the organization migration archive as a .tar.gz file.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    After your migration has exported, download the migration archive by sending a GET request to the migration download endpoint. ... -L -o migration_archive.tar.gz \ https://api.github.com/orgs/ORG_NAME/migrations/ID/archive

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

  2. A cloned repository is a Git repository that can be compressed into a .zip or .tar.gz file and later restored by pushing it to any Git remote.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    Once you have cloned the Git repository, you can compress it into an archive (for example a .zip or .tar.gz file) and move it to a location for safe-keeping. You can restore your backup by decompressing the archive and then pushing the Git repository to a Git remote.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

What is deleted while you still pay

  1. By default GitHub automatically deletes checks, workflow runs, commit statuses, and GitHub Actions artifacts and logs after 90 days.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    By default, checks, workflow runs, commit statuses, and the artifacts and log files generated by workflows are retained for 90 days before they are automatically deleted.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

  2. From October 1, 2026 the retention setting also deletes checks, workflow runs and commit statuses, which until then were kept for 400 or more days regardless of the setting.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    Starting October 1, 2026, these policies will apply to checks, workflow runs, and commit statuses in addition to artifacts and logs. Until then, checks, workflow runs, and commit statuses are retained for 400+ days regardless of your configured retention period.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

  3. An organization can set the period between 1 and 90 days for public repositories and between 1 and 400 days for private ones, and a new setting only applies to records created afterwards.

    Plans: all

    GitHub’s words
    For public repositories: you can change this retention period to anywhere between 1 day or 90 days. For private repositories: you can change this retention period to anywhere between 1 day or 400 days. When you customize the retention period, it only applies to new checks, workflow runs, commit statuses, artifacts, and log files, and does not retroactively apply to existing objects.

    docs.github.com, read October 29, 2026

Those records are worth money before they are deleted.

AI labs license company records like your GitHub history. Runbook Partners values them, finds the buyers and runs the deal, and the buyer pays our fee. We sign an NDA before we see any data.

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